Citigroup Boosts Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG) Price Target to $41.00

Key Points

• Citigroup raised its price target for Warner Music Group from $33.00 to $41.00, maintaining a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 21.63% from its current price.
• Analysts from other firms, such as Wells Fargo and UBS, have also increased their price targets for the stock, reflecting overall positive sentiment in the market.
• Despite missing earnings estimates for the last quarter, Warner Music Group reported a revenue increase of 8.7% year-over-year, totaling $1.69 billion.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Free Report) had its target price lifted by Citigroup from $33.00 to $41.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Warner Music Group from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America raised shares of Warner Music Group from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their target price for the company from $28.00 to $33.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised shares of Warner Music Group from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.65.

Warner Music Group Price Performance

Shares of WMG stock traded down $0.62 on Tuesday, hitting $33.62. 1,572,121 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,898,123. The firm has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.98, a PEG ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.31. Warner Music Group has a 52 week low of $25.56 and a 52 week high of $36.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.37, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.64.

Warner Music Group (NASDAQ:WMG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.30). The firm had revenue of $1.69 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. Warner Music Group had a net margin of 4.59% and a return on equity of 39.95%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Warner Music Group will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Warner Music Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 20th were paid a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 20th. This is an increase from Warner Music Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. Warner Music Group's dividend payout ratio is 133.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Warner Music Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 2.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 326,449 shares of the company's stock worth $10,234,000 after buying an additional 9,103 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 5,272.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 95,304 shares of the company's stock worth $3,040,000 after buying an additional 93,530 shares in the last quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. DigitalBridge Group Inc. now owns 896,445 shares of the company's stock worth $27,790,000 after buying an additional 205,529 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its stake in shares of Warner Music Group by 88.0% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 59,437 shares of the company's stock worth $1,863,000 after buying an additional 27,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Warner Music Group in the 1st quarter worth $1,157,000. 96.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group Corp. operates as a music entertainment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and internationally. It operates through Recorded Music and Music Publishing segments. The Recorded Music segment is involved in the discovery and development of recording artists, as well as related marketing, promotion, distribution, sale, and licensing of music created by such recording artists; markets its music catalog through compilations and reissuances of previously released music and video titles, as well as previously unreleased materials; and conducts its operation primarily through a collection of record labels, such as Warner Records and Atlantic Records, as well as Asylum, Big Beat, Canvasback, East West, Erato, FFRR, Fueled by Ramen, Nonesuch, Parlophone, Reprise, Roadrunner, Sire, Spinnin' Records, Warner Classics, and Warner Music Nashville.